Chapter 19 The Second Round of Contest
A few days before the second game, the players of the Danish team went out shopping. If their girlfriends and wives arrived, they naturally accompanied their wives and girlfriends. The World Cup is a major event for the players, but for their families, it is a rare vacation time.
However, Qin Tian was not accompanied by his girlfriend. Because he was worried about their safety, several people could only chat on the phone, but Qin Tian still lived a lot of life after his spare time. Because Jessica recently helped him answer a "twitter" endorsement, Qin Tian needed to update his South African life on it every day...
The second game of the Denmark team was scheduled on June 20. The training tasks in the past few days have remained stable and continuous. After a brief relaxation, all players did not indulge in excessive indulgence and still maintained sufficient self-discipline. There are still a few days left before the game, and all preparations have been completed.
The second opponent of Denmark is Cameroon. As mentioned earlier, if this team from Africa had not moved to change its course in time, the "untamed lion" would have missed the World Cup again. As a representative of African football, Cameroon has reached the World Cup quarterfinals and won the Olympic championship and other impressive results, which has changed the world's impression and view of African football.
However, in the 2006 World Cup qualifiers, the Cameroonians and Côte d'Ivoire continued to pk until the last moment of the last round of the qualifiers. Worm missed a penalty in stoppage time, which made Cameroon lose the opportunity to go to Germany. At the beginning of this World Cup, Cameroon also came to the brink of being eliminated. Although German coach Pfist is a veteran of Africa for many years, they only scored 1 point in the first two group matches and could only hand over their coach position. The German coach had some problems in the lineup arrangement, such as superstitiously believing that Worm's condition and level decline were very obvious.
In a key battle between the veteran and Morocco at home, he actually replaced three defenders at the same time. After the qualifiers, Pufest returned to Germany for vacation. But what he didn't expect was that the Cameroonian Football Association quickly fired his assistant who had followed him for many years and arranged three Cameroonians to join the coaching staff. What's worse is that the Football Association did not even know Pufest before making a decision. The German coach learned the news from his disciples. It is said that everything is possible in Africa. Although he coached on this almost black soil for many years, Pufest decided to resign.
Taking advantage of the three months after that game, Cameroon Football quickly found former Ligue 1 champion coach Regon. Whether traveling to Africa or working, it was regarded as an adventure by many people. Regon won the bet this time. Even though the prospect of Cameroon's World Cup was on the verge of death, fans still cheered their idols like celebrating festivals. In addition to Etoo, Webbo and Macon, they also shouted the name of Regon this time. When the French coach appeared in front of the fans in formal outfit and felt it was difficult to raise his arms, the fans had already regarded him as the leader who would lead Cameroon to win the "war".
If Cameroon hopes to participate in the South African World Cup before September 6, the two victory over the group opponent Gabon in the next five days is enough to make Cameroon completely turn over. They regained the top spot in the group, and the crazy fans seemed a little confused when celebrating the victory, but the happiness and excitement were impressive. When Regon bargaining with the Cameroon Football Association, he insisted on bringing his own three-man coaching team, which ultimately proved to play a key role. The team's preparations are more meticulous and more professional. The players in the Cameroon team come from nearly 10 European leagues, and many have left their motherland since childhood, and some have even been born in Europe. These players have no worries about food and clothing. How to unite them and stimulate combat effectiveness is Regon's top priority.
The soldier died for his confidant. The players led by Etoo O tried their best and did not make any mistakes in the following two qualifiers. They defeated Togo and Morocco, who failed to defeat in the first round, and advanced to South Africa with their heads. Relatively speaking, Regon did not change the team's lineup so much. Famous players such as Etoo O, Gremy, Rigobert Song and Cameni still played the mainstay. On the defense, Worm and Bike, who played for Burnley, were abandoned, and Nkulu, a post-90s player from Monaco, gradually emerged. Although Emmana was relegated to Class B with Betis, he was awarded the No. 10 jersey in the national team, and Mbami and Mbia were already out of favor.
From the lineup, Cameroon and Côte d'Ivoire are the most powerful African teams to challenge European and American teams. With rich experience in the central axis composed of Cameni, Rigober Song, Gremi and Etoo, Rigober Song will participate in the World Cup for the fourth time and will be the veteran player in next year's World Cup. The age composition of this main lineup determined by Regon is relatively reasonable. There are both veterans like Rigober Song and Gremi, Etoo, Emmana, Macon and other Mesozoics who are at the peak, as well as talented young people like Alexander Song and Enkulu.
However, from the confirmation of the group list until the end of the first game, it fully proved that it is not easy for Cameroon to achieve good results. The strength of the teams in the e-group is very close. Neither the Netherlands, Denmark nor Japan can easily defeat the teams of Regon. Although before coming to South Africa, Regon still maintained his optimism. "From the past World Cup experience, the Netherlands is a popular group, but the competition for another quota will be very open, and that is also our opportunity. I am very
Hopefully we can pass the first round. Yes, we will play the role of a dark horse. It is a pleasure to go to South Africa, but this cannot be the only thing that deserves to be happy about." But what Legon may not have expected was that in the first game against Japan, he lost the game 0:1, and even more unfortunately, the opponent in the second game was the Danes who defeated the Dutch team. Olsen's team has told the Cameroonians with their performance, you meet us, pray...
Although Cameroon lost the first game, Olsen was still not careless. He was very clear about the characteristics of his opponent, with excellent physical fitness, outstanding physical fitness, extremely fast speed, and strong creativity. His disadvantage is that his overall skills are rough and simple. For this and that game, the Denmark team's goal is to get all three-pointers. Therefore, the tactics arranged by Olsen for the Denmark are to strive for a safe way of playing, and the team played a 442 diamond midfielder.
After the last training session before the game, Olsen summoned all the players. After the players arrived, assistant coach Michelle Lauderup closed the conference room door, Olsen said seriously: "Young men, you should all know that the three opponents in the group stage of our Denmark are not weak. If we want to qualify in the group, every game is very important to us. Winning a good start is the result of your excellent performance, but this is far from enough. In this game against Cameroon, we also have to strive for victory. Even a draw will pose a hidden danger to our qualifying. I don't need my too much explanation. Everyone should be very cleared? The World Cup stage cannot be qualified smoothly by a victory. He is full of unknowns."
"I understand, boss!"
Olson nodded and continued: "Now I will announce the list of starters tomorrow.........Forwards: Bentner, Nikola Ag; Front Mid-middle: Qin Tian; Back Mid-middle: Simon Paulson; Left Front Mid-middle: Glenshare; Right Front-middle: Daniel Romedal; Left Back Jacobson, Right-back Mittyriga, Central-back Kyar, Daniel Ag, goalkeeper Anderson!"
After reading the roster, Olsen raised his head, glanced at the players of the Denmark team, and said slowly: "The schedule of the game is very frequent, and every player has the opportunity to start. The players who entered the starting roster in this game are the list taken out by our coaching team after repeated consideration. I believe your performance will not disappoint us. Success or failure is here. I hope your performance can be worthy of your national team uniform! Can you do it?"
"Yes!" The eleven people who entered the starting list shouted together.
The players who did not enter the starting lineup were not angry, and they slapped their teammates on the shoulders to encourage them.
"You have to kick it well, or I'll replace you all," Mike Jensen patted Nicholas on the shoulder.
"Dream you! I will show you ashamed." Nicholas was ecstatic about being able to enter tomorrow's starter. If the coaches hadn't been yelling there, he would have been yelling.
The atmosphere in the locker room is very good now, and the players can be in a group. Olsen and Michelle Lauderup both smiled when they saw it. This national team is easier to lead than the previous national team. Not only are the players more manageable, but with the renewal of the Danish team, the young blood will soon be completely integrated with the Danish team.
In Olsen and Michelle Lauderup's opinion, as long as the Denmark performs at a normal level, there is absolutely no problem in qualifying in the group. The key is that after entering the top 16, no one can know how far it can go. After all, in previous World Cups, all the strong teams have capsized in the gutter. Now, the Denmark, which is ranked low in the world, is not a real strong team. Everything is still unknown before meeting those traditional teams. It is certainly gratifying to defeat the Netherlands, but it is not because the teammates' defensive ability is indeed different from that of the strong team.
On the afternoon of June 20, the seats at the Loftes Stadium in Pretoria were all full. Nearly 10,000 fans from Denmark and more than 10,000 fans from Cameroon were divided into two prominent camps, sitting on both sides of the "human wall" composed of neutral fans. For safety reasons, in this World Cup, all seats between the fans of both parties will be left to local fans or fans from other countries. When booking tickets, you must fill in your ID certificate in detail.
With the voice of Wuwuzula, the players of both sides walked out of the player channel and then played the national anthem of both sides. After that, the players of both sides would shake hands and greet each other. The captains of the two teams would then guess the side, and the players would divide them into two groups to get familiar with their respective venues.
15 minutes later, with the whistle from Uruguayan referee Lajunda, amid the cheers of the fans of the audience, the second round of the e Group e competition officially kicked off...
Chapter completed!